No one is underestimating the potential of the next wave – interlocking trade, digital money and communications. Certainly not the Chinese, whose technology, communications and finance companies are heavily invested.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency analyst Michael Kimani, doodling on a napkin one day, sketched out the penetration of Chinese companies into East Africa’s mobile internet stack.
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“They are operating with a swarm intelligence,” he says, pointing to the interconnected development-finance support Chinese companies receive. “They have invested a lot in understanding this market, creating a range of devices from $15 to $500, […] and they research needs, such as long-life batteries for basic phones for rural areas.”
China Mobile is building a new submarine cable, alongside Facebook, Orange and others. The project will be
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